Cities ramp up homeless ordinances
Carlsbad is the latest city to discuss, while others have adopted new laws, tactics to address encampments, vehicles and other related issues
NORTH COUNTY — A wave of ordinances and city action regarding homelessness has exploded across the state after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in the Grants Pass case.
The case (Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson) overturned the Boise vs. Martin ruling in 2018, which prevented municipalities from enforcing public camping restrictions unless shelter was available. Now, cities across North County, and the state, have moved forward with enacting or re-enacting local ordinances to clear some public spaces of homeless individuals.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Carlsbad City Council became the latest city to discuss the issue. They discussed living in vehicles, disorderly conduct and camping and whether to adjust any of those to include in an update to the Homeless Action Plan.
Those issues will go before the city’s Housing Commission for recommendations and community input and then return to the City Council.
“We as a society have let down some of our population,” Mayor Keith Blackburn said. “With enough bad circumstances, any of us could be living in the back of a car. A different perspective … we’ve had people on meth say they’re not getting off the streets. They end up dying on the streets and that’s not compassionate. With the really hardcore cases, I want the police to have the tools they need to enforce these laws.”
Mandy Mills, the city’s housing and homeless director, said the city updated its Homeless Action Plan last year, which consists of nine initiatives and 56 actions. Those include no public camping (state campsites are exempt), sleeping anytime on public property, no fires or cooking on public property, trespassing, storage of personal property in public places and soliciting, among others.
Those were approved by the City Council in 2021, Mills said.
The city has also removed public benches in Carlsbad Village and two portable bathrooms, one at the public parking lot adjacent to Bluewater Grill and one at Magee Park, although the bathroom at Magee had maintenance issues.
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